Merrick's spiritual power wasn't as high as Duke's, but he also seemed completely unconcerned about Bell, not even considering him worth noticing.

As Alfred finished explaining the rules, it also marked the official opening of this Void Corridor. The people on the platform instantly vanished, all entering the light curtain above.

Duke only felt a spatial fluctuation before he found himself in a dim world.

Surrounding him was a forest of deathly silence, the trees tall and twisted, their trunks a deep, charred black as if scorched by fire, surfaces covered with deep cracks and burls.

All the branches were bare, stabbing into the gray sky, grotesque and bizarre in form, like countless skeletal arms of despair reaching towards the firmament.

There was no wind, no insect chirps, no bird calls, not even a detectable flow of air.

Only a bone-chilling cold and the pervasive scent of decay spread across every inch of space.

When Duke looked up, he realized it wasn't the sky above him but various floating black shadows of different sizes.

Each of these shadows was a fragment area, some very distant, others quite close, covering vast parts of the sky.

In the far distance, a sky full of stars could be seen, their light streaming through the gaps between the fragments, one of the few sources of light.

"We should be near the third area." Merrick observed the surroundings for a while before saying.

The third area is one of the fifteen zones with a teleportation entrance. All of them were either transported into one of these fifteen areas or near the ten zones.

The Wizard Council ensured everyone was dispersed to avoid too many people gathering in one location.

Upon being transported, Duke immediately extended his spiritual power and perception sense, but he didn't detect anyone else's presence.

The place they appeared was also on the previous map, not very dangerous, but it had a certain level of risk.

For example, those withered trees around were actually a demon with a curse, and just a slight touch with the curse on the trees could turn a person into a withered tree in just a few hours.

A large part of the forest seen now was once human, turned into this form after being tainted by a curse.

Around Duke, some yellow sand was already swirling, ready for defense, while he kept his distance from the withered trees.

Merrick, on the contrary, was a wizard specializing in the Curse Element. These withered trees were of great research value to him and could serve as Casting Materials for many Curse Magic spells.

These withered trees were called Shadowy Dead Branches, a grade-one Casting Material, extremely rare in the outside market, one of Merrick's targets.

He hadn't expected to find himself here immediately, saving him the trouble of searching.

Merrick appeared to approach the Shadowy Dead Branches forest without any defense, and Duke could sense a certain energy emanating from those withered trees.

This energy swirled around Merrick's body, and moments later, it all penetrated into him.

If it were an ordinary wizard, they would have surely been cursed by now, but Merrick seemed unaffected.

He seemed to think it wasn't enough: "So little Curse Power, not as much as I expected..."

This Curse Power that ordinary people avoided, Merrick found delectable, frantically absorbing the actively offered Curse Power.

Duke was also observing this process, speculating that Merrick must have mastered some kind of magic, transforming his body to directly absorb Curse Power.

"Could his Talent Magic be this?" Duke thought involuntarily.

Talent Magic is generally defensive, but there are also those that grow. Merrick's ability to absorb Curse Power might be brought by Talent Magic.

As Merrick absorbed Curse Power, he approached the withered trees and directly grabbed their trunks.

Instantly, the grabbed withered tree erupted with a large amount of Curse Power, continuously drilling into Merrick's body.

Merrick couldn't help but smile, enjoying the absorption of Curse Power.

He then exerted force with his hand, uprooting the withered tree and placing it in his Space Ring.

Merrick continued walking and uprooting the Shadowy Dead Branches effortlessly as if he were harvesting crops.

He seemed to recall something and turned to ask, "Duke, do you want some of these? I can get you some."

"No need, it's too much trouble to process after putting them away." Duke waved his hand.

This was something Merrick could touch freely, but Duke couldn't; it required special handling to take them, and they couldn't be randomly stored in his Space Ring.

Otherwise, if the Curse Power spread unchecked in the Space Ring, cleaning it would be a hassle.

Merrick said, "No worries, I'll share some with you after handling them later."

He continued uprooting the withered trees, and soon the forest was cleared, leaving a wasteland full of pits and hollows.

After harvesting the Shadowy Dead Branches, Merrick recalled the map of this fragment area and said, "According to the map, there should be Chris Grass nearby, which you might need."

Chris Grass is a grade-one Magic Potion Material, extremely rare, and not commonly seen in the market. It's a required ingredient for some Magic Potions, leading to a high price.

In the market, a single Chris Grass is worth over ten thousand magic stones, and picking a few can amount to tens or even hundreds of thousands of magic stones.

Duke was aware of this information; he didn't particularly need it, but he could collect some if available.

"Alright, I think the area with Chris Grass is also near the passage, which can lead us to the next fragment area." Duke said.

The passage he mentioned connects certain fragment areas to others, but only some fragments have passages.

Merrick said, "Let's head towards the direction of Chris Grass and take a look."

With the yellow sand defense maintained, Duke stayed on high alert, activating Shadow Perception and summoning an Eye of Darkness in the Shadow Space for nearby vigilance.

The ashy soil underfoot gradually turned moist, and a faintly fungal scent began to permeate the air.

The terrain started to slope downwards, revealing a sunken depression ahead.

The depression was not large, its center pooling with a small puddle of turbid, dark green liquid, which emitted a faint energy wave, resembling some kind of concentrated dew or decaying liquid.

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